New Zealand - Part 8 - Arthurs Pass to St Arnaud

There’s one thing that is often overlooked in New Zealand.  The weather especially in the west is unpredictable, variable, and usually involves a lot of rain. The last time we visited in January/February (Mid Summer) the country was hit by a tropical storm and when we were in Te Anau, over 300mm of rain in about 12 hours and the bridges at both ends of the road serving the glaciers were closed.  

When we left Arthurs Pass, the weather was dull and grey, with low clouds and drizzle, and we made our way along the coast to Punakaiki, it was not the most inspiring. When we arrived at the Paparoa Park Motel, the room was a big airy log cabin. The view from the window was one of my favourites.

We had a walk from the motel to the swing bridge

And we had our first close encounter with a Wera bird.  Who seemed as interested in us as we were in it.

In the evening the sun came out for a brief visit.  The view from the garden of the motel.  A view of the west coast at its best. 

The other side of the beach is the headland with Pancake Rocks - another New Zealand strange rock formation.

The next morning it was back to being grey. The sea was rougher and spectacular waves were breaking in the pools.

The grey cloud continued the next morning but brightened up when we went up the Buller Valley.

We stayed at the Alpine Lodge in St Arnaud.  It was a stunning setting in the Nelson Lakes National Park.  Opening the door to the patio - this was the view.

In the evening rabbits grazing and the following morning we had a family of ducks for company.

It was only a short walk from the hotel to Lake RotorIi, with it's woodland walks.

There was a final sight for the night.

I looked out of the window, to see one of the best night skies I have ever seen. I went out for a better look the photos from the phone do not do the sky justice it was amazing.

New Zealand part 7 - Tekapo to Arthurs Pass

The next stage of our trip was to cross the Alps over to the West Coast.  This was going to be via Arthurs Pass.

Due to the changed schedule, this was going to be the longest day of driving planned for the holiday.  It was also one of the busiest roads as Arthurs Pass is the main route between Christchurch and the West Coast, and there were a lot of trucks on the road.

We decided to stay in Arthurs Pass village (28/11/24) because like Haast Pass on paper there were a fair number of things to see.

The drive from Tekapo to be honest was not the most exciting.  There was nothing we wanted to see, without significant detours.  Some of the best views were from the bridges the road crossed.

We stopped at Rakaia Gorge for a little leg stretch. The bridge design was a little different.

Unfortunately, the wind was making the walk unpleasant so we did not go all the way up the gorge.

The wind was whipping up the sand all along the river.

The next stop was at Castle Hill another of those strange sites scattered around New Zealand. The site was originally part of an inland sea, which left the limestone rocks when it dried up. The rocks were then eroded to create the unusual and striking rock formations.

It was like a number of sites we encountered which had spiritual significance to the Maoris. These sites allowed access to part of the site but the most important were out of bounds.

It was well worth an hour or so to walk round.

The lower reaches of Arthur's Pass are spectacular, but tiredness from a long drive, heavy traffic, limited stopping points, and the views bing on the drivers side means no photos.

We stopped at Lake Pearson nature reserve. This would have been a nice place for a walk, if it was not for the gale force winds.

We did stop for a leg stretch at the top of the pass. The valley was extrordinary considering we had climbed constantly for around 30 minutes to reach this point.

There had been strong winds all day but by the time we got to Arthurs Pass village the rains arrived.

So after about 6 hours travelling we decided we needed to do some exercise - so we walked up to the Devil's Punchbowl waterfall. It was around a 40 minute walk, but the falls with a 130m drop were well worth it.

The falls can be seen from the road.

The walk is mainly through the woods, and features a lot of stairs. At times there are views up the stream to the waterfall

At the top it didn't disappoint

The next morning, the rain had stopped but there was low cloud, we had a walk over the road from the motel to Avalanche Falls. Which was a small but attractive falls.

We also has a walk to Brides Veil Falls. This was a fabulous woodland walk twisting up the side of the valley. After about 30 minutes we could see the top of the falls, but decided against the walk down 266 wet stone steps to see the bottom.

Our next stop was at the Bealey Valley Track.

This was around a 45 minute linear walk. After about 5 minutes there was a bridge over a fast flowing section of rapids which had cut a small gorge in the rock.

The walk was a mix of peatbog, pasture and native wood, with much on boardwalks to protect the landscape.

On the way up we couldnt see the valley due to low cloud but an hour later this was the view.

The peak beyond the treeline was constantly changing due to the cloud cover.

When we reached the trailhead the view was spectacular.

The Bealey Valley Track was one of my favourite walks of the holiday, and we only saw about six people on the walk.

After the walk the pass started to descend and it was a spectacular road.

There were a couple of major pieces of civil engineering to view.

Firstly Otira Viaduct

The second was the Otira Rock Shelter demonstrating the lengths that New Zealand has to go through to keep the roads open.

Near the end of the pass we stopped at the Stagecoach Hotel.

It was basically a recreation of a hidden object game, a hoarders paradise or one of the greatest collections of Junk in New Zealand.

I am so glad we stopped.

Even though the weather was challenging and we arrived after several hours driving, I am glad we spent time in Arthurs Pass, it was an amazing environment and there was impressive engineering with bridges and roads, and even a railway to cross the mountains. And few people were taking the time to appreciate the beauty - their loss.